PPARδ as a therapeutic target in metabolic disease

PPARδ is the only member in the PPAR subfamily of nuclear receptors that is not a target of current drugs. Animal studies demonstrate PPARδ activation exerts many favorable effects, including reducing weight gain, increasing skeletal muscle metabolic rate and endurance, improving insulin sensitivity and cardiovascular function and suppressing atherogenic inflammation. These activities stem largely from the ability of PPARδ to control energy balance, reduce fat burden and protect against lipotoxicity caused by ectopic lipid deposition. Therefore, PPARδ represents a novel therapeutic target and the development of PPARδ gonists/modulators may be useful for treating the whole spectrum of metabolic syndrome.